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AVAC's Blog: P-Values

IAS 2019 is July 21-24 in Mexico City. To help you prepare, read on for a round-up of research and happenings you won’t want to miss, a roadmap to guide you to sessions where HIV prevention is center stage, and how to follow on-site or from afar.

As in-country planning for the Key Population Investment Fund (KPIF), a PEPFAR initiative to fund programs and organizations focused on key populations, key populations (KP) groups should take center stage in the process. Leaving them behind or out of the process would mean proceeding against their will.

In 2016, the Key Population Investment Fund (KPIF) was announced by PEPFAR leader Ambassador Deborah Birx at the UN High-Level Meeting. It took two years before this commitment materialized, and at the AIDS 2018 conference in Amsterdam, Ambassador Birx announced that the funds would finally be disbursed to selected awardees through PEPFAR agencies to existing cooperative agreements. The $100M (split between CDC and USAID) is meant to support scale-up of key population-led community approaches to expand and enhance HIV services. In Uganda, the $10m envelope of funding for KPIF is being implemented by CDC through existing implementing partners like The AIDS Support Organization (TASO) and Baylor.

In-country planning for the Key Population Investment Fund (KPIF), a PEPFAR initiative to fund programs and organizations focused on key populations, has finally begun. AVAC and a number of our partners have been working with KP-led organizations in KPIF countries to help them engage in and influence the ongoing country-level processes. AVAC has developed a new resource and documented some of its work to-date to help inform ongoing advocacy and action. Read on for more!

In the days since the leaders of the ECHO Study announced their findings, AVAC has produced a number of resources to inform advocacy and action. These resources include a new episode of Px Pulse, a webinar, What do the ECHO Study results mean for African women? and a new document, Understanding the Results of the ECHO Study.

At a satellite symposium at the South African AIDS Conference linked to a publication in The Lancet, the ECHO trial of contraceptive use and impact on HIV risk released its results. The topline finding: There was no substantial difference in HIV risk among women using DMPA-IM, the LNG implant or the copper IUD.

The results of the ECHO Study (Evidence for Contraceptive Options in HIV Outcomes)—a trial designed look at whether three specific contraceptive methods (DMPA-IM, the Jadelle Implant and the Copper IUD) impact women’s HIV risk—will be announced on Thursday, June 13, 14:00–15:30 (South Africa Time) at the South Africa AIDS Conference in Durban.